Bonniers & Free Speech

ANKEBORG (Rixstep) — The Power-Ducks That Be (TP-DTB) in Sweden's infamous 'duckpond' have developed a good tactic for dealing with dissent - label it racist.

No matter what the complaint about the status quo - just call it racist and it's back under the duckpond rug.

The Bonnier premier attack duck Expressen - infamous for their lucrative character smears and generally shoddy 'journalism' - are playing the game like the best of them.

Kvällsposten

One of Expressen's sub-sites is called Kvällsposten ('Evening Post'). It has its own URL (kvp.se) but redirects under expressen.se. Yesterday they went on the attack against dissent.

It turns out that someone - amongst the myriad who've really had it with corruption in the duckpond - finally lost it and pinned a note to the door of the local supermarket.

It's not quite Martin Luther, but it's close. Bonnier immediately labeled it as 'racist', using that term four times in the same article. But let's look closer at what was nailed to the door.

Sweden Was Better

Not all the text on the note is visible, but the following is a good approximation.

Sweden was better when...

Bert Karlsson still did music

People couldn't have multiple citizenships

People obeyed our laws

We were only 7,000,000 inhabitants

Löfven was still welding in his workshop

Reinfeldt wasn't born

We had freedom of speech

We had democracy

We had politicians who stood up for their views

We had real journalists

Swedes were proud of being Swedes

Swedes were proud of their country

Citizens fought for the best for their country

We didn't need to lock our doors, our bikes, our cars

We weren't in danger of being mugged or raped

We could say Sweden was the world's best country

Bert Karlsson (#1) is an infamous record producer known for his country bumpkin hits on his label 'Mariann' (which he subsequently told to Warner). He also had a brief career as an ultra right wing politician. Today he's mostly known for profiting in the millions off Sweden's much more lucrative 'refugee business'.

Of course there are right-wing nut cases in Sweden, but the great majority are not xenophobic in any way - they are however pissed at the endemic corruption in, amongst other areas, the 'refugee game'.

Sweden used to be a quiet law-abiding country (#3). No contest. You could leave an attaché anywhere in Stockholm's subway and no one would touch it - stealing was 'beneath' them.

And yes, there was (#7) freedom of speech, famously exemplified by the 'I Am Curious' movies where 'Hasseåtage' actress Lena Nyman asked everyone, high and low, 'what if' - and got some eloquent (and rather famous) answers.

(Palme tells Nyman what he thinks of the 'class society' - how certain groups are still being oppressed, groups such as women and immigrants.)

The pique (#10) about 'real' journalists must have hit the Bonniers hard - they've been in an unholy alliance with the Swedish government known as the 'alliance' for over eight years, and there's no sign yet that the new government will do anything about the corruption (#5).

Thanks to Bonnier pressure - and the corruption of the 'alliance' government - Swedish media are no longer prohibited from sneaking 'propaganda' into what otherwise appear to be genuine unbiased news reports.

Sweden was once rated as having the highest standard of living in the world, and until recently could always be found in the 'top ten'. But then things began to change.

Then came Reinfeldt (#6) who early on profiled himself as an ultra right wing nut himself.

'The method is linguistic innovation, media manipulation, and the art of bringing smear campaigns', Anissa here quotes Brian Palmer as having said of the methods of Reinfeldt. Reinfelt's been helped by the US Republican Party since the 1980s - since his youth.

No, the list of grievances tacked to the door of the supermarket had much more to do with the oppression and corruption ushered in by the US and the Bonniers. And when things like that happen, the Bonniers have a way to deal with it. Call it 'racist' and no one will dare talk about it anymore.